Time
by Afterthought and Ellipses
Summary: Five seconds. That's how fast it was for her to make him smile. She simply walked through the kitchen door and there it was: a glorious smile that none of us had seen since the war started.


**Time  
By Afterthought**

**A/N: One-shot. Again. You guys know that this is my turf. Although, I need to write longer stuff. A-ny-ways, hope you guys enjoy this one. It's my first time writing in Ginny's POV (I mean, a long one). **

**Disclaimer: I'm 16, I live in the Philippines, and I ship Harmony. Guess what that means? Yeap, that means that I am not Joanne Katherine Rowling. That is all.**

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Ginny's POV

Ten days. It took ten days for the combined effort of my entire family to make him smile. And even that was fleeting. Hardly lasted a second, even. We thought it was just the effects of war. Of the dead bodies that kept flashing through his mind. The horrible moment in the forest that hardly anyone knew of the events that transpired inside. So we shrugged off the fleeting-ness of his happiness but that didn't mean we stopped trying.

Five seconds. That's how fast it was for _her _to make him smile. She simply walked through the kitchen door and there it was: a glorious smile that none of us had seen since the war started, a smile that lasted throughout her whole stay at the Burrow. And that's when I knew that despite the effects of war, of his mourning, of that moment in the forest, she would always be the one to get him on his feet and make him go on. Always be the one to make him happy.

And it made me weep. _I _wanted to be the one to do that to him. Didn't I _deserve _it? After all the years of waiting, of trying, didn't I deserve it? Apparently, I didn't.

I knew that it'd be stupid to ask what she had that I didn't. She had it all. She was pretty albeit not an eye-turner, she was amazingly intelligent, fiercely loyal, daringly courageous and above all she knew him better than anyone did. Better than himself even.

And I also knew that it'd be even more stupid to ask if I deserved him more than she did. After all they'd been through? After her saving his arse more times than we could count? Of course _she _did. I'd known that, everyone had known that and I convinced myself that I'd still do my best to fight for him, to make him mine. But after those five seconds, I knew that I had no chance whatsoever to get him. No chance at all.

Time had taught me to realize, to understand and to accept that no matter how hard I try, I could never love him like she does him and he could never love me like he does her.

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Harry's POV

It took me five seconds to realize that I was in love with Hermione Granger. Truthfully, I had no idea that I even _fancied _her prior to those five seconds. Sure there were the occasional gazes to her…um….chest area and her bu- I mean, backside. And of course, I had grown into the habit of smelling her hair whenever she was near (it smells like Lavender, in case you wanted to know) and kissing her forehead after we hugged but other than that I did _not _fancy her at all. At all. (Oh, who am I kidding, really?)

Until those five seconds.

The day started as normal as it did on any other day. I was in the Weasley's kitchen, having breakfast while listening to their sad and futile efforts to cheer me up (alright, that sounds awful but it's the bloody truth. I did not want to be cheered up.). As I was munching on some toast, the kitchen door burst open and in came Hermione.

She'd simply said "Hello everyone, I'm back." in a span of five seconds and I knew, as cheesy as that may sound.

I'd missed her more than a platonic best mate would have missed her. I thought she looked absolutely gorgeous despite her grunged-up look. I was just _in love with her. _

And that made me smile. Because, finally, time wasn't making a fool of me as it always had. Time became my friend. Time had made me see that my greatest happiness was right under my nose.

And I knew that as long as she would stay right with me, I would never stop smiling.

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Ron's POV

Five seconds. That's how long it took me to realize that Harry and Hermione were in love with each other. I mean, sure, it was rather obvious that they fancied each other _ages _before those five seconds. What with Harry's intense stares and his habit of kissing her forehead and all the hugging he does with her. And _of course _, who could not notice Hermione's constant worrying over the man and her "Oh, Harry"s and her ruffling of his hair. She'd never done that to me. And we're _dating. _But, still, it was those five seconds that made me realize.

So it started out this way. We were trying our best to make Harry smile for the nth time this week (and yes, I did say "nth") and of course, it did not get any results whatsoever. The bloody git. So Harry was there being the prat that he was and me being the best mate in the world when Hermione burst through the kitchen door, her eyes searching for Harry's face and she'd said "Hello, everyone. I'm back."

Then BAM! Harry's face lit up like a Christmas tree and he couldn't stop looking at Hermione's face and then we all just _knew. _

And it didn't make me mad or jealous or anything you'd expect me to feel.

I was actually rather relieved. (I am such a nice mate, aren't I?) Because now, Harry would have someone who could actually deal with his…moodiness. He'd have someone who understood him better than he understood himself, someone who'd never leave him no matter what happened.

And he only needed time to realize what was right under his nose.

And I knew that we'd never wipe the smile off his face now.

**A/N: You know that awesome feeling when you eat Nutella? Yeah, I feel that way when you guys review my stuff. So give me some Nutella, yes?**


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